GET JACKED! with Coach Scott Umberger

Want to improve your game? LacrosseAllStars has just what you need. Get a weekly program of workout reccomendations and tips from a professional.This Week’sGET JACKED!– Scott Umberger is sick and tired of sport-specific whiners. Listen up because it’s time to get strong.

Keep It Simple, Train Like An Athlete

Scott Umberger > GET JACKED!

Quotes of the Week:

“The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of our adversities!”
-Sopholous

“He who angers you will conquer you”
-Elizabeth Kenny

I’m going to rant here a bit.. I’m a little beat up from a powerlifting meet yesterday. Actually I feel like I was blindsided by a bus. That’s neither here nor there. What is driving me crazy lately is this sports specific training bull shit! “I play Lacrosse so I train like X”, my favorite is “ I play hockey on two metal blades so I am different”. The only difference is in your head, chief!

If you have been reading my posts here you read what I’ve said time and time again,

“Train like an athlete and get strong, the skill will be enhanced by your strength!”

Since hockey is on my mind, lets use Alex Ovechkin and Peter Forsberg as examples. They are two amazing scorers and will knock you on your ass as well as make a highlight reel goal. They don’t have BOSU balls and speed ladders where they come from so how did they get so strong? Trust me it wasn’t from doing leg presses and tricep kick backs like the juice monkeys in Flex Magazine.

Nicky Polanco

Would you want to meet Long Island Lizard and monster defenseman Nicky Polanco in a dark alley? What about some tool bag that just does cable crossovers and concentration curls? I’ve seen the training that Nicky does firsthand and it”s what I’ve been reccomending for you guys. In that dark ally I’d rather take on a cable crossover pansy instead of Nicky any day of the week.

Nicky trains at Joe Defranco’s place in Jersey. It’s a gym that is as hard core as they come. Defranco has developed what he calls the “Westside for Skinny Bastards Workout”. Joe took the training template from Westside Barbell (they are the strongest powerlifting gym in the world) and tweaked it for athletes. I had the honor of training at Westside for 3 months and experienced first hand what goes on. It pretty crazy to say the least. Things that you’d only believe because you saw it on youtube. Anyhow, the point is that it’s all about strength.

Check out my post on February 11th at www.scottumberger.com. I refer to a blog done by Eric Cressey. He references a study that was done on balance training and I had some thoughts that I expounded on in much better detail. Here is an excerpt:

BOSU Balls = worthless

It’s not rocket science here. The studies support my belief that strength improves balance. In addition to the enhanced balance there is also the improved explosiveness and power associate with becoming stronger. How about the reduction of injury and the recovery of injury associated with being strong verse “balanced”? (Read the full post here)

I also reference his book which discusses balance training and how he specifically blows up the myths that “balance training is best for athletes”.

I’ll leave you with a very simple thought…

How much time do you have to train in the weight room? How about conditioning? How about your lacrosse skills? Is there anytime left to be young? My point is that there is a limited amount of time to get strong especially if you play other sports. If you spend an hour in the gym four days a week how will you spend that time? I wouldn’t be wasting it squatting on a Bosu ball or doing DB Lateral Raises on balance disks. You have to do less weight if you are standing on balance implements. Are you squatting 500+ lbs? Then you aren’t strong enough.

Great jacked standing on the freaking ground people.

BTW, look me up on facebook, bebo, orkut, myspace, twitter, or whatever of the million social media site that you use.

__________________________

Scott Umberger is the owner of Umberger Performance and can be reached through his website or email at scottumberger@gmail.com

Scott Umberger has worked with high school, college (athletes from 20 different NCAA schools), and professional athletes(MLL, NHL-ECL, MLB, CHL, NFL, NBA, World Championship Games, and Arena Football I & II), 3 All-Americans (track, swimming, hockey), a Biletnikoff Trophy Winner (top DI Football Receiver), 2 Hobe Baker Trophy Finalist-top 3 and top 10 (Heisman Trophy of College Hockey), a top 10 NCAA scorer in Men’s Hockey, a member of the USA U-22 Woman’s Team, FINA Master World Championship Qualifying Swimmer, current Olympic Hopeful Javelin Thrower, ECAC/IC4A qualifying track hurdler.

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